SCOPE OF SERVICE OF THE COUNSELING DIRECTORY (http://counseling.pk)

The Counseling Directory (TCD) is a privately owned forum founded by Omar Tauseef in 2015. TCD serves as a listing service for consumers to look up professional and ethical therapists who have gone through rigorous checks to be listed. The Directory isn’t a peak body or a credentialing institute and aspires to establish itself as a premier directory of mental health professionals. It doesn’t declare anyone’s suitability to practice, but reserves the right to decline someone’s listing request if the assessors believe that a therapist doesn’t fulfill criteria for listing. An applicant may also be declined if they don’t hold a good reputation with regards to their ethical and professional practices as known in the professional circles.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIRECTORY PROCESS

TCD was established as a ‘giving back’ project by connecting ethical therapists on a forum. While the mental health field is unregulated in Pakistan, the directory set itself out to list only those therapists who hold a good community reputation as well as verified credentials. The Directory started out with a dozen likeminded therapists holding degrees from the U.S, U.K and Australia asking “who all can we reliably refer clients to?”, and set itself to promote practitioners known in the community to practice according to the best ethical practices in the field.   

As there’s no state credentialing standards set for the mental health field in Pakistan, the criteria for listing for the Directory was determined by prominent, foreign qualified therapists like Maryam Suheyl, Daheem Din, Omar Tauseef, Jasmyn Rana, Muntaha Ahmed, Meera Afzal etc. in consultation with their supervisors. These criteria are available on http://counseling.pk/get-listed/ . There is a differing criteria for various qualifications e.g. holders of a Master’s degree from countries with established mental health credentialing like from the U.S, UK, Australia and Canada is different from that for those who have a local qualification (See Listing Criteria below).

These standards aim to set minimum cut offs for academic exposure, client hours worked, personal therapy received, supervision history, CPD etc. and ensure that every therapist listed at TCD is at par with globally set benchmarks for personal and professional development.

THE PRESENT STANDING OF THE DIRECTORY

Every year around 20-30 therapists request to be listed on this directory, however, only 8-10 make it to the standards we have set. The Directory has set itself to list people within a narrow band of competence and not others. TCD receives more than 25,000 views every month. Most therapists listed here receive dozens of high quality referrals every year from Pakistanis all over the world. It also serves to distinguish you as a therapist whose practice is seen as ethical, professional and humane by some of the most prominent therapists and supervisors in the field.

Presently the directory has 41 mental health professionals listed from Pakistan, Canada, Hong Kong, Australia, Netherlands and USA.